Poll: Would you kidnap a child?

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Dear Liam Neeson,

I have your child. You have two days.

-Yellow Dragon

 

[evilneko]

I would just call child services. They would take care of it and I don't get in trouble.

Actually, no, they wouldn't. Unless the child is over 18, the parents have the say on any medical treatment, and there's nothing child services can do as long as the parents raise an objection on a religious basis.

Varies by state. Denying treatment is neglect/abuse in some states. Abusive parents such as those described in the OP have gone to prison over it despite religious objections.

Religion doesn't give anyone the right to murder.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

Now that you've clicked on this thread to see what merits asking such an outrageous question I can begin.

Yesterday I was watching Family Guy when I saw an episode where a child suffering from a highly treatable form of cancer was prayed for by his Christian "scientist" parents instead of being given treatment. At this point I was thinking of just kidnapping the child and taking it to the hospital myself (Which the Griffins later planned). That got me thinking. Would anyone else do the same? Why? Why not?

EDIT: For those of you who didn't watch, the Griffins kidnapped the child because the police did nothing about it. Add that to the mix if you please.

...no, never. I'm not a criminal

 

[Monkeyman O'Brien]

Nope. As much as I would hope the nutjobs got hit in the face with a hammer I would not put my ass on the line for the kid. Im too pretty for prison and these type of people are insane so it would soo not go down like it did in the show.

 

[Mikeyfell]

no, because the child needs to die so that the parents can see how bullshit there belifes are.

NO. If you're that ignorant your kids can die as slowly and painfully as you want them to

Either my sarcasm detector is broken or you guys are trying way too hard to troll people. Nobody is going to believe that you actually mean what you're saying.

No sarcasm, no trolling. If your child is dying and you believe that imagining he or she will get better is a better course of action than actually trying to get your kid medical help, you deserve to be taught a harsh lesson in reality.

Religion or "faith in god" should be treated the same way as luck, some people pray, some people cross their fingers or rub a rabbit's foot.
Nobody would say "Little Timmy has cancer, but I found a 4 leaf clover. I'm pretty sure he's going to get better on his own"

 

[Xanthious]

Dear Liam Neeson,

I have your child. You have two days.

-Yellow Dragon

Don't you watch movies man?!?!?! This isn't going to end well for you . . . .

Now as for the topic at hand, would I kidnap a child? Well if it was a slow weekend and there weren't any good bands playing around town and I wasn't able to get . . . . oh, oh you meant for a good cause? Well that just takes all the fun out of it.

 

[Smiley Face]

I'm pretty damn sure that the police have to intervene in those circumstances (at least where I live).

So, if the police didn't do anything, if social services didn't do anything (WHICH THEY WOULD), if no activist group would intervene... well then I would be living in some sort of crazy state with no functioning police or legal system, in which case it becomes the individual's responsibility to intervene.

It's not the most well-phrased thought experiment, you haven't made the consequences of the choice very clear.

 

[PotluckBrigand]

That's that the police are for.

And the police will get crackin' on you if you try to break the system.

Ergo, no. Call the cops, yes. Make sure they take care of it, yes. Do something if they'll let me. But kidnap the child? Hell no.

To my knowledge that hardly ever works. The cops are involved, parents go to court, then get away with it because of "The right to practice their religion" all while the child is suffering.

Yup. In America, anyway. It's basically the only legal form of neglect. I grew up witha kid who had some very serious and very treatable medical conditions. he was limping in Elementary School, had crutches in Middle School, a wheelchair in High School, and now he's dead (I'm 27... I think he might have made it to 25). Another person I went to school with almost died in a bike accident because his parents wouldn't let him have a blood transfusion.

I am absolutely all for freedom of expression and religion. Who am I to tell people that I have the answers to everything and they are wrong? But Jesus I think you'd have to draw the line just before letting someone DIE. We don't allow human sacrifices anymore, and I'm not sure I see a huge difference between the two... you're just letting God do the dirty work.

Deny them necessary medical treatment for ANY other reason and you're a criminal... deny because God wants your kid dead? Well then carry on, friend!

Bleagh.

I'm not sure it would be worth the time to kidnap them yourself though... in the end you'll be charged with a crime and they will be put right back in the situation. A noble thought, perhaps... but likely futile.

 

[evilneko]

no, because the child needs to die so that the parents can see how bullshit there belifes are.

NO. If you're that ignorant your kids can die as slowly and painfully as you want them to

Either my sarcasm detector is broken or you guys are trying way too hard to troll people. Nobody is going to believe that you actually mean what you're saying.

No sarcasm, no trolling. If your child is dying and you believe that imagining he or she will get better is a better course of action than actually trying to get your kid medical help, you deserve to be taught a harsh lesson in reality.

Religion or "faith in god" should be treated the same way as luck, some people pray, some people cross their fingers or rub a rabbit's foot.
Nobody would say "Little Timmy has cancer, but I found a 4 leaf clover. I'm pretty sure he's going to get better on his own"

Well yeah, but that harsh lesson should not be in the form of the child's suffering and death. The neglectful, abusive parents should go to prison.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I wouldn't kidnap the child but I would call child services. It's possible that leaving a child untreated for cancer would be considered as causing undue suffering or even child abuse. My father died of cancer and it is horrendously painful in it's advanced stages. I would seriously question any parent who would let their child go through that without some form of medication or relief.

As for religion well, isn't god supposed to help those who help themselves? I know that the care my dad received for his cancer helped me a lot when he passed away because I knew that the excellent nurses and doctors had done everything for him that could have been done.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Lol that's an Amber Alert, brah. You don't want that on your record.

Besides, why would I want to deprive a child of the chance to begrudge his parents for not doing the right awesome thing and get him superpowers cured? Besides, that leads to an easy two way street, lined with double-edged swords. What, then, makes it wrong for religious groups not to steal "immoral" children and baptize them into a mindset of outdated traditions, tropes, stories, and laws? Their own good, you say? Well, that's relative. Scrubbing a child down in antibacterial agents could mean a weakened immune system, after all, but leaving the little bugger to fight his own diseases all the time means he won't get many chances to show what his immune system is good at. It's all relative.

And, you know, it'd be a pain in the ass lying on all those medical forms. Talk about needing dedication to a lie, damn. Waaaaayyyy too much effort just to get the kid fixed.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

No. As irritating as it may be, I can't force them to seek medical aid for their kid. They'll learn the hard way how useless just praying is soon enough.

Disclaimer: To all religious people, I'm not saying praying is useless. But I'm sure anyone with any degree of sense will agree that unless you take action on your own, praying ain't going to do much.

 

[viranimus]

Now that you've clicked on this thread to see what merits asking such an outrageous question I can begin.

Yesterday I was watching Family Guy when I saw an episode where a child suffering from a highly treatable form of cancer was prayed for by his Christian "scientist" parents instead of being given treatment. At this point I was thinking of just kidnapping the child and taking it to the hospital myself (Which the Griffins later planned). That got me thinking. Would anyone else do the same? Why? Why not?

EDIT: For those of you who didn't watch, the Griffins kidnapped the child because the police did nothing about it. Add that to the mix if you please.

Hrm.. Im compelled to wonder if you would think it was ok to abduct you because you are being deprived of a moralistic center.

I cannot for the life of me imagine why people feel sooo compelled to shove their own personal beliefs down other peoples throats like that. Let people live the way they wish to live. Even if that means they are living just so they can die, then so be it. Just because you dont agree with the education someone has been given does not make that position any more valid than any other and certainly does not give the right to impose ideas onto others who do not share those ideas.

 

[spartan231490]

Now that you've clicked on this thread to see what merits asking such an outrageous question I can begin.

Yesterday I was watching Family Guy when I saw an episode where a child suffering from a highly treatable form of cancer was prayed for by his Christian "scientist" parents instead of being given treatment. At this point I was thinking of just kidnapping the child and taking it to the hospital myself (Which the Griffins later planned). That got me thinking. Would anyone else do the same? Why? Why not?

EDIT: For those of you who didn't watch, the Griffins kidnapped the child because the police did nothing about it. Add that to the mix if you please.

No, i wouldn't. I would call social services and they would remove the kid from the parent's custody for child endangerment.

 

[lacktheknack]

Why do I need to kidnap the child myself when Social Services will do it for me?

 

[deth2munkies]

I will respond to this ethical hypothetical the same way I respond to every ethical hypothetical:

Depends.

 

[Risingblade]

No, first of all kidnapping is illegal secondly who would pay for cancer treatment? It's not like you just take the kid to the hospital and bam cancer cured.